Banco Sabadell Sells Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios to Oaktree for €882 Million

5 August 2019

Banco Sabadell has agreed to sell its developer, Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios (Sdin), to the US-fund Oaktree. The sale, which includes a significant stock of land holdings, closed for 882 million euros and will generate an accounting gain of 23 million euros.

Sabadell split Sdin Residencial from the larger Solvia Real Estate before its sale to the Swedish group Intrum.

With this deal, Sabadell has practically eliminated toxic assets from its balance sheet, selling more than €12.5 billion in non-performing assets over the last year.

Thanks to the sales, Sabadell will now have a Tier 1 Common Capital Ratio of 11.6%, up from 11.2% in June. The bank hopes to reach 12% in 2020.

Original Story: Expansión – Sergi Saborit

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Sabadell Completes the Sale of its Platform Solvia to Intrum

24 April 2019 – Cinco Días

Banco Sabadell and Intrum have definitively closed the operation whereby the entity chaired by Josep Oliu has sold 80% of its real estate platform Solvia to the Swedish group, more than four months after it was initially announced, having obtained the corresponding approvals.

The operation values 100% of the company at €300 million and so Sabadell will receive €240 million for the 80% stake, an amount that may increase by another €40 million depending on the evolution of the business.

The bank will record a gain of €138 million as a result of the sale and its capital ratio will improve by 15 basis points.

The entity is also waiting to complete the sale of its property developer Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios (SDIn) during the next quarter. The funds Cerberus and Oaktree have made it through to the final round of that operation, according to sources.

Original story: Cinco Días (by A. G.)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Cerberus & Oaktree in the Final Round to Buy ‘Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios’

5 April 2019 – Expansión

Banco Sabadell is on the home stretch for the sale of 100% of its property developer, Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios (SDIn). The funds Cerberus, through its property developer Inmoglacier, and Oaktree have made it through to the final round of the operation, which could be closed within the next few days or weeks.

The consultancy firm Savills Aguirre Newman has estimated that SDIn’s assets are worth more than €1.3 billion and the entity chaired by Josep Oliu (pictured above) is hoping to record proceeds of around €1 billion from the sale.

The portfolio comprises 270 buildable plots for the construction of around 15,000 homes, half of which are in Cataluña, although it also contains plots in Madrid, Andalucía and Valencia.

It has been reported that two other investment funds may have also been selected for the final round (out of Apollo, Goldman Sachs and CPPIB) but Oaktree is understood to be the favourite. Rothschild is advising the divestment process.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Sampedro and S. Saborit)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Blackstone Enters the Bidding for Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios

26 March 2019 – Ok Diario

Banco Sabadell is on a mission to divest the land from its property development arm Solvia, worth more than €1 billion. The firm, Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios (SDin), is sparking a great deal of interest in the market, not least from the US investment bank Blackstone.

That firm faces stiff competition from the property developers Aedas and Merlin Properties, as well as 10 other interested parties, who have been whittled down from an original list of almost 30 candidates.

Given the huge interest in Solvia Desarrollos, Sabadell has extended the original deadline by one month to the end of May, at which point it will choose the buyer.

Besides the firms already mentioned, funds such as Cerberus, De Shaw, Värde, Apollo and Oaktree are also reportedly participating in the bid.

Most of the land owned by Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios is located in Madrid, Barcelona and several places along the Mediterranean Coast.

Original story: Ok Diario (by Borja Jiménez)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Aedas Homes Evaluates the Purchase of ‘Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios’

28 February 2019 – Idealista

Aedas Homes is evaluating the possible purchase of Sabadell’s property developer, Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios (SDIN). The listed real estate firm, controlled by the US fund Castlelake, is interested in acquiring the property developer and its land from Banco Sabadell for more than €1 billion.

Other large funds and property developers have also expressed their interest, including Cerberus, Oaktree and Bain Capital (through its property developer Habitat), but Aedas is deciding whether to bid just for the land or for the company as well. Last week, Neinor announced that it was withdrawing from the process.

Last year, Aedas handed over 231 new homes and purchased land for the construction of another 2,600 units. This year, it plans to purchase land for the construction of at least 1,000 homes and expects to hand over 1,055. By 2022, the property developer intends to reach its cruising speed in terms of the handover of new homes.

Original story: Idealista 

Summary/Translation: Carmel Drake

Neinor Withdraws from the Purchase Process of ‘Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios’

28 February 2019 – El Español

Neinor Homes is not going to be one of the candidates that submits an offer to acquire Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios (SDI), the subsidiary of Banco Sabadell. The real estate company has been studying the operation for a while but has concluded, following its initial analysis, that the numbers do not fit with its investment philosophy.

That is according to explanations provided by Neinor’s CEO, Juan Velayos, who acknowledged that he has the sales prospectus on his desk but that at the moment, “it is not a priority” for him. We are talking about a company that has a portfolio of 300 buildable plots and which the bank led by Jaime Guardiola put up for sale in January.

Velayos himself acknowledges that he “loves the portfolio”, but he’s not so convinced by the numbers being seen in the market”. (…). “I’m afraid that it is not going to be for us from the perspective of a disciplined investor”, he said. The first valuations of SDI’s land are in the region of €1.3 billion, given that the portfolio also includes 130 real estate developments in different areas with 5,000 homes under construction.

Indeed, the price of land is one of Neinor’s obsessions. Over the last year, it has purchased 2,400 plots in which it has invested €95 million. Neinor’s CEO believes that his firm has adopted a prudent policy in this regard (…).

As a result, it looks like Neinor will not be one of the candidates to bid for Sabadell’s subsidiary in the end. The bank is awaiting possible expressions of interest for its land company. The intention is to receive binding offers before the end of this quarter and to settle the sale during the month of April.

Interested parties

In terms of the parties that are interested in SDI, they include some of the main international funds such as Cerberus, Värde, Oaktree and Blackstone (…).

The sale of SDI comes after Banco Sabadell sold Solvia, its real estate servicer for €300 million, for which it obtained capital gains of €185 million (…).

Original story: El Español (by Arturo Criado)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sabadell Delays Completion of ‘Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios’ Sale until May

28 February 2019 – El Confidencial

Banco Sabadell is finalising the sale of land from Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios (SDIn) to complete its real estate divestment process with prices of between €900 million and €1.1 billion. The process began with more than 20 funds and property developers expressing interest. Analysts forecast that the Catalan entity will record gains of more than €200 million.

To this end, the bank chaired by Josep Oliu (pictured above, left), has already prepared a timetable. The entity has delayed the deadlines because it has taken longer than expected to receive some of the signed confidentiality agreements (NDAs). Now, the interested parties will have until 30 March to analyse SDIn and submit non-binding offers. The deadline for the subsequent period for the submission of binding offers will be 17 May.

In this way, Sabadell will have the second half of May to accept the winning bid, and then receive the corresponding authorisations to complete the divestment before July (…).

Analysts expect that the operation will be executed in the region of €1 billion, with a discount of 30% on the net asset value. Even so, that would result in capital gains from profits of more than €200 million, according to a report by Alantra, to which this newspaper has had access. In this way, the maximum quality capital ratio (CET1 fully loaded) would move towards 12%, approaching the 12.5% that the bank has set itself as a target for 2020 in its strategic plan. In December, the ratio amounted to 11.1%, well below the 12.8% from the previous year following the sale of toxic property and the problems with the integration with TSB.

The land has been valued at €1.3 billion by Savills Aguirre Newman and by the property developer SDIn itself (…).

Candidates include funds and property developers. Market sources point to Cerberus, Oaktree and Neinor homes as some of the leading contenders. The operation will require the buyer to become one of the largest real estate players in Spain (…).

In December, Banco Sabadell agreed the sale of its property developer Solvia to the Nordic fund Intrum for €300 million. Intrum is listed on the Stockholm stock exchange and is the owner of Lindorff and Aktua in Spain (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by Óscar Giménez)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Following Blackstone, Cerberus, Lone Star and Bain Plan to Launch Socimis

7 February 2019

Major investment funds have taken over billions of euros of real estate from the banking sector in recent years and are now planning their exit strategies. Some funds, such as Cerberus, Bain Capital and Lone Star intend to follow in Blackstone’s footsteps, considering the creation of socimis with a portion of their assets, various sources in the sector told the Economista.

The sources stated that some funds’ plans are further advanced than others, already at the point where they are analysing the size of the portfolios which they may transfer to the market through this type of listed vehicle. They held out the possibility that one or more of the new socimis may premiere before the end of the year.

Under this formula, the funds would increase their investments’ liquidity, taking over from other more core investors, with a longer-term profile and more moderate levels of profitability.

The three funds’ future socimis would focus on the residential rental housing market with a model based on largely dispersed units since the apartments they acquired from the banks generally fit such a profile.

Major operations

Cerberus earned its place on the podium as one of the most significant real estate investors in Spain, just behind Blackstone. The fund, based in New York, was one of the first to arrive in Spain during the real estate crisis, between 2010 and 2012, and since then it has been taking positions in almost every sector of the property market through Haya Real Estate , the developer Inmoglaciar, the real estate agency Housell and Gescobro.

In November 2017, it bought 80% of BBVA’s real estate business, which had a gross value of some 13 billion euros. The transaction was the second largest portfolio operation ever concluded in the history of Spain, behind Blackstone’s acquisition of Banco Popular’s toxic assets from Banco Santander. Cerberus has also been increasing its portfolio of NPLs and REOs with other smaller operations such as CaixaBank’s Agora project, Sabadell’s Challenger and Coliseum portfolios and BBVA’s Jaipur Project, among others.

On the other hand, Cerberus is in the race to acquire Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios, a developer that owns a portfolio of land valued at about €1 billion.

Lone Star is also analysing the possibility of launching a socimi with a portion of the properties it acquired during its flagship operation in Spain when it bought CaixaBank’s real estate business, which had a gross value of 12.8 billion euros. The fund also acquired the bank’s servicer, Servihabitat.

For its part, Bain Capital, which owns the developer Habitat, has also been one of the most active investors in debt portfolios. One of its more recent operations, known as the Shell Project, involved the acquisition of some €700 million in NPLs to developers from Kutxabank.

Original Story: Eleconomista.es – Alba Brualla

Photo: Getty

Translation: Richard Turner

Sabadell Puts its Property Developer Subsidiary Up For Sale with Assets worth €1.2bn

5 February 2019 – La Vanguardia

Banco Sabadell announced on Tuesday that it is putting its subsidiary Solvia Desarollos Inmobiliarios up for sale. The property developer owns assets worth around €1.2 billion. The assets are mostly plots of residential land, located in prime areas of Madrid, Barcelona and other major cities, as well as 130 work-in-progress real estate developments.

Less than a week ago, the President of Banco Sabadell, Josep Oliu, announced at the presentation of last year’s results that “we are going to continue with our asset divestment policy”. On this occasion, Sabadell has chosen the investment bank Rothschild, according to the relevant fact sent to the CNMV, to circulate the sales prospectus amongst possible buyers. According to market sources, large funds such as Blackstone, Cerberus, Värde and Oaktree, amongst others, may be interested in buying the company.

The entity, led by Francisco Pérez, has around 40 employees, who will also exit Sabadell’s orbit. The sales process may last six months. Firstly, the candidates will have to submit offers and then a competitive process will be carried out.

This sale is running in parallel to the sale of 80% of the real estate manager Solvia. In theory, an agreement has been reached to sell that firm to Lindorff Holding Spain, which belongs to the Swedish fund Intrum, for €300 million. That price may increase by an additional €40 million if certain conditions established in the sales agreement are fulfilled.

Original story: La Vanguardia (by Conchi Lafraya)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aedas, Neinor & Merlin Properties Put €1bn on the Table for Sabadell’s Land

29 January 2019 – OK Diario

Banco Sabadell has now opened the sales process for Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios, its real estate developer, for which the entity expects to obtain €1 billion. To date, the entity chaired by Josep Oliu has already sent the teaser to almost 30 interested parties. But there has been an important development, and that is that it is not only the typical funds that tend to participate in these types of auctions that are interested in the company, property developers are also keen, including Neinor, Aedas and Merlin Properties.

It is worth remembering that when Sabadell decided to sell Solvia, it separated the house-sale business and the real estate development business into two different companies with the aim of achieving a better offer. The land, which is owned by the second firm, forms part of the bank’s balance sheet and that is what is now up for sale.

According to sources speaking to OK Diario, the deadline for non-binding offers will finish in March; it will be after that when Banco Sabadell will start to receive binding offers. Sources in the know indicate that the operation will be closed in the second quarter. And, moreover, in addition to the aforementioned property developers, funds such as Cerberus, De Shaw, Blackstone, Värde, Apollo and Oaktree have also received the teaser (…).

The main plots of land owned by Solvia Desarrollos Inmobiliarios are in Madrid, Barcelona and several places along the Mediterranean Coast. The portfolio includes plots that the buyer will have to reclassify in order to be able to sell, resell or transform them, as well as plots that are ready for development. It is precisely in those assets that so many property developers have expressed their interest.

Banco Sabadell obtained a profit of €138 million from the sale of 80% of Solvia, its real estate subsidiary, to Lindorff, a company that belongs to the Intrum AB group, for €300 million. With that operation, Sabadell, which has retained ownership of the remaining 20% stake in Solvia, achieved a positive impact on its Common Equity Tier 1 (“fully loaded”) capital ratio of 15 basis points.

The completion of that operation, which is subject to obtaining the corresponding authorisations, is also scheduled for the second quarter of 2019 (…).

Original story: OK Diario (by Borja Jiménez)

Translation: Carmel Drake